It is not probable that this word was placed there by chance, 479.
It is doubtless an enigma, like many other things in the temple of
Apollo, 480. What then is the meaning? 480. Does it point to the
number of the wise men of Greece, of whom Thales was one? 480. Has
it an astronomical meaning referring to the sun, the second of the
planets, as ε is the second of the vowels? 481. Does it denote a
form of prayer to the god, εἰ standing for a wish? 482. As Apollo
is skilled in logic, does εἰ refer to that science, denoting the
dependence of consequent or antecedent, or the connection of one
thing with another? 482-484. Has it a relation to mathematics, ε
being the fifth letter of the alphabet, five being the sum of two
and three, the even and odd numbers, and five or its double being
that number by which we reckon? 484-486. Or does it point to music
and its five symphonies, or the five positions of the tetrachords?
488. Or may we suppose it refers to five worlds, or to five
elements of matter, or to the five geometrical solids? 489. Or to
the five portions of the world, or to the five species of animated
beings? 490. Or to the five principal beginnings? 491. The true
answer is,—By the word εἶ, we are to understand the verb εἶ, _Thou
art_, as an address to Apollo; signifying thereby the actual and
permanent existence of God, in contrast with our fleeting, transitory
existence, 493-495. God is: he exists, not in time but in eternity,
an ETERNAL, CHANGELESS NOW, 495. God is ONE, and not many, though
there are many manifestations of him, 495, 496. The word εἶ, _Thou
art_, then, testifies of this one God, as eternal and unchangeable,
and challenges for Him our worship, 497, 498.